


We Left 채령 Back In The Friend Zone

by loosenoodlepoodledoodle



Series: Intense Adventures [1]
Category: ITZY (Band)
Genre: F/F, Horror, LGBTQ Themes, Romance, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:28:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22347970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loosenoodlepoodledoodle/pseuds/loosenoodlepoodledoodle
Summary: Ryujin and the others take a short trip to Hawaii before their next tour starts. But can they handle a love triangle, or will it be the end of Itzy?
Relationships: Choi Jisu | Lia/Shin Ryujin, Hwang Yeji/Shin Ryujin, Shin Ryujin/Shin Yuna
Series: Intense Adventures [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672414
Kudos: 16





	We Left 채령 Back In The Friend Zone

“Do you want to watch a movie?”

I feel a quavering in my voice as I say it, and I wonder if they can hear it. It’s such an innocuous question. I look at them, and though their reactions are all different, I think I know what they’re going to say.

***

We were getting ready for our upcoming American tour, when the old man told us there was time for a short vacation beforehand, no doubt caused by poor Chaeryeong’s sudden illness. We got a long weekend in Hawaii, and she got a long weekend with the flu.

We arrived without any crew to watch or film us, nor even to protect us. That’s how last minute this thing was. Lia had to be our guide. My English isn’t terrible, exactly, but I’m not comfortable speaking it under pressure. Especially when having to deal with rude customs agents. Yeji and Yuna practically melted when their desk jockey couldn’t understand them.

Lia and I had to cheer them up after.

“He was just grumpy,” I say to them.

“Yeah,” says Lia, “besides, who ever heard of an agent not being able to understand foreigners’ English? It’s their job!”

Yeji and Yuna laugh, looking a lot better for it. I catch Lia’s eyes, and they dart away suddenly.

We take a cab ride to our hotel and check in. Our rooms are connected, and because it’s already pretty late in the afternoon, we just change quickly without choosing who will room with whom. The weather is beautiful, and we don’t want to waste the sunset.

The beach is fairly crowded. We’re wearing shorts and tank tops over our bikinis, and while we walk and vlog and take pictures, some people recognize us. At least, I think they do. The younger ones who do so wave and say hi to us, and it makes me happy. But there’s a group of five guys who can’t be far from forty who are, I don’t know, I guess you’d call it _swooning_ at us. Anyway, we feel weird about it, and I’m not even sure they’re fans of Itzy. They could just be drooling at any teenage girls who walk by.

We start back, but we (and everyone else on the beach) are awestruck by the green flash. I’ve only read about it, of course. It’s really rare, and when we look it up on our phones Yuna can’t help herself.

“It must be lucky, us seeing it like this,” she says, beaming. Her smile is infectious.

“But it can’t be that lucky,” says Lia, “there are too many people who saw it. Not enough luck to go around.”

We all laugh, and when Lia catches my eyes I am the one who looks away this time. But she’s not the only one who notices, either.

The hotel has a boardwalk-style restaurant on the second floor, but when we get there it is crowded. We decide to order room service instead.

After we eat comes the problem of who will sleep where. Lia and I are tired, so we take one room while the other two can stay up longer in the other. Lia and I get ready for bed, and I feel nervous. I change in the bathroom, and she changes in the bedroom. We get in our separate beds, and we don’t say anything for a moment. Then, reluctantly, I wish her goodnight and turn out the lights.

For a time, I don’t sleep. I lay on my side, facing Lia in the dark. I think maybe she’s doing the same to me, but I don’t know for sure. I could ask her, I know. I could even join her in bed, but I don’t. I can’t. I’m too afraid, of what I’m not sure. Something inside me paralyzes me, keeps my heart hidden. Maybe I’m too afraid of admitting to myself what I really want.

Maybe I don’t want to have to keep it hidden, either. From everyone else, I mean.

The next morning, we have breakfast delivered. When we’re finishing up, Yeji looks out the window.

“The beach is already pretty busy,” she says.

Lia makes a suggestion. “We could rent out a private beach for a couple hours.”

We react skeptically, but she shows us what she found on her phone. A brief investigation confirms it to be legit. We’ll have to rent a car to get there, and the drive isn’t exactly short, but it’ll be worth it.

At least I hope it will be.

***

It’s nearly lunch time when we finally arrive in our rented jeep, and we’re all eager to stretch our legs. Looking around, I think we’ve lucked out in our location. I can’t see anything else through the forest. We must really be on our own here, although we did pass other private driveways on the way down. So other people probably aren’t _that_ far up the beach. I’m just glad we’ve got _this_ amount of privacy.

There’s a sort of cabin, or just a nice shack. It has bedrooms in it, but we only unlock it in case we need the toilet. We aren’t going to forgo the enjoyment of our hotel room back in the city.

We unload our kit from the jeep and take it out onto the sand. We’re already wearing our outfits from last evening, we just need to make camp. While the other three are setting down the blanket and towels, I plant our parasol, which is sturdy enough to kill a man standing.

We spend the first half hour or so sunning ourselves, but it’s hot and I want to go swimming.

“Hey,” says Yeji, “you know what?”

I look at her expectantly, as do the other two.

“We could try skinny-dipping,” she says innocently.

I blush. Hell, we all do. But her suggestion is right up my alley. I make eye contact with Lia, and this time neither one of us looks away. In fact, she says, “Then we’re gonna need to put on some more suntan lotion.”

There’s a pause, and though I want to laugh I can’t. I look away from Lia, running my fingers through my hair. I stop when I see Yeji biting her lip. Is she feeling what I feel?

Yuna interrupts us by prematurely squirting the bottle of lotion, splattering all over Lia’s breasts. It looks dirty as hell. All the emotions we were holding back come forth at once. By the time we’re done giggling, she’s already stripped down and started rubbing it in.

“You know what? Somebody should stay here and keep watch. Just to be safe.”

She looks pointedly at Yuna, whose eyes are about to fall out of her head. Yuna sheepishly agrees.

Yeji and I get naked, and soon the three of us are ready. I lead our little trio to the water’s edge. The sun feels great on my skin, but the water is a bit cold. I stop when it reaches my knees. Then a swell comes in and douses me to my navel. I lose my balance and fall back, but Lia and Yeji catch me. I lean against them, and their skin is so soft, I want to stay like this all day, snuggling with them. But I can’t.

“Let’s go deeper,” says Lia.

We wade in further, until the ocean just about reaches our necks. If any waves come, we can try to jump up over them, or just let ourselves be dunked. We have fun like this, the three of us, but I can’t get warm in this water. The only heat I feel comes from the other two, so I take them by the arm and hold them close. Lia’s face, her mouth, is right there, and I can’t help myself. I give her a kiss, and she kisses me back. Her lips feel wonderful against mine.

Yeji makes a pitiful sort of gasping noise. We break apart just enough to look at her. She’s so close, but she looks so lonely. Who are we to leave her out in the cold? We make a kind of sandwich hug, both kissing her at the same time, and she goes limp with a dreamy sort of expression on her face. Lia and I are not prepared for it, so all three of us end up with our heads underwater. When we break the surface, we’re all laughing again. But something’s changed between us; something beautiful.

_If only we could ditch the kid for one night_ , I think to myself. Then I see Yuna walking steadily towards us, blushing, and smiling, and somehow simultaneously looking at us suspiciously. She stops short just as her toes get wet.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

A moment passes, then I say, “Nothing.”

“It didn’t look like nothing. And I want in.”

I sigh, and Yuna hears it and frowns. God. Yuna with her smile is a sight to behold, but Yuna upset is something tragic. I like her, I really do, and part of me would have said yes and be done with it. But the better part of me knows it would be wrong. We’re only a couple years apart, she and I, but what a difference it makes. Like a minefield I dare not tread upon. Which is so weird, because if we just waited it out, the minefield would disappear on its own.

Lia tells Yuna to go back and keep watch, and Yuna starts to argue. I look away in embarrassment, and then my blood runs cold from what I see up the beach. We’re not far out into the water, but it’s enough that the trees no longer block our line of sight to the next beach. Where Yuna’s standing now, she still wouldn’t be able to see it. Lucky for her.

There’s a shack just like the one we rented, and closer than I thought it would be. Out front, on a blanket in broad daylight, a couple is having sex in the open. They’re not so close for me to see a lot of details, but I can tell the man is older and the woman is younger. Yeji sees my face and looks where I’m staring, and I know she sees them because she makes a cringey sort of noise.

Lia cuts off Yuna and asks us what’s wrong. I weakly point my finger up the beach. I see her eyes widen and her jaw drop. Yuna cranes her neck around, but she can’t see anything from where she’s standing and suddenly she is afraid to enter the water. I check up the beach in the other direction, and now I’m afraid to _leave_ the water.

“Yuna, get dressed and bring us our towels.”

“What? Why—”

_“Do it.”_

She flinches at my tone of voice, and even Lia and Yeji are taken aback. Then the two of them catch sight of what I saw, and understand.

“If we crouch down, we can move up while still being covered,” I say. The other two nod in agreement, and soon we’re in position, waiting for Yuna. She runs back to us, looking scared and confused. She still doesn’t know what’s going on, but from here the tree line conceals us from both sides.

“Are there people over there?”

I ignore her for now, wrapping my towel around my body and standing up. “Let’s grab our clothes and change in the shack.”

Lia and Yeji nod, and we stride up the beach, stopping only briefly to gather our garments. I’ve never felt so vulnerable in my life. Yuna is following us meekly, and she tries to pack up the rest of our stuff, but Lia hisses at her to let it go for now and she is brought nearly to tears. Yeji has to put her arm around her to keep her moving.

We make it inside the shack and dress quickly. I look out the windows, but I see no one approaching us. I feel relieved, but not yet safe. Yeji is sitting down with Yuna on a sofa and has her arms around her, whispering gently in her ear. She’s almost got Yuna calmed down. Lia stands near me, looking worried but strong. I feel such love and terror for them all.

“Do you think any of them saw us?” I ask Lia.

“Definitely. One of them had binoculars, for Christ’s sake.”

I shudder. What the hell were we thinking, coming here like this?

I look out towards our little camp, like a forlorn post in no man’s land.

“Do you think we can leave most of that stuff? Just grab our handbags and go?”

“Most of the big stuff is rented,” says Lia, “we can’t just leave it behind.”

Damn. The blanket and parasol are heavy. There’s no way to be quick about it. I hesitate, and Lia calls me out.

“The longer we wait, the more likely they show up to stop us.”

She’s right. Her words put Yuna into a fit of shaking, and Yeji can’t calm her down this time. They’ll have to wait while Lia and I brave the open. At least we only have to worry about the one direction; the shagging couple weren’t interested in us at all. In fact, I’d bet the older man is taking a nap this very moment while his “girlfriend” is probably counting out the contents of her lover’s wallet.

The shack has a little kitchenette. I search its drawers and find some old silverware. There are three knives that could be useful to us, a pair of steak knives and one big one that I can’t identify. Maybe it’s for carving loaves of bread? Anyway, they could be dull for all I know, but they make me feel better all the same. I give the big one to Lia and one of the smaller ones to Yeji. Yuna sees this and tears just pour out of her face.

“Oh God, are we going to die?” she asks.

I look her in the eye and simply say, “No, we’re not.” She blinks at me, and actually stops crying.

I just hope I’m not lying.

***

Lia and I step out the front door. The beach is the same, the sun still warm against my skin, but everything has changed. The trees to our left hide a threat, and I scrutinize them with almost a manic intensity that I did not have before. I notice that you can see bits of the neighboring beach through little gaps in the trees, but I see no people. I glance towards where our jeep is parked and feel a tiny jolt. There’s a narrow path that must connect our parking area with the neighboring one. I point it out to Lia and she agrees. If they come, they’ll come from there.

We reach our camp. It’s easy to gather the smaller things, but the blanket and parasol are going to be trouble. I fold up the parasol but leave it standing while I help Lia shake out and fold the blanket. We have just finished when Lia swears in English, drops the blanket, and draws her knife. I turn and grab hold of the parasol. It’s probably the best weapon we have.

Two men in bathing suits are walking towards us. They are obviously drunk, one is even still holding a beer bottle. They are grinning and strutting, and look dangerous to us. We’re a lot smaller than them, and I know I counted at least three more when I first spotted them watching us. They’re also standing between us and our shack and jeep.

One starts to say something I can’t understand, but it’s probably just some stupid pick-up line. Lia doesn’t give him a chance to finish.

“Turn around and walk away.”

She’s holding the big knife in both hands like a sword. Even if the blade is too dull to cut, she can puncture a kidney with the pointy end. The men start to object angrily, and I lift the parasol out of the sand. They look at me and stop, bewildered. Maybe it’s my stance, or the look on my face, or even the heft and danger of my weapon, but they are stunned into silence.

While we wait to see what happens next, I realize something about myself. Deep down inside, even deeper than the part of me that wants to fuck Yuna, is a dark secret. Down there, I’m not terrified at all, or worried for my friends and lovers. Instead, that part of me wants these fools to try something. To see how I measure up in a fight. To know what it feels like to kill.

Later I’ll think about it, and wonder how I had never realized it until that moment.

***

We drive back to Honolulu in silence. Even with the air conditioning on in the car, I’m soaked in sweat. I’m sure the others are the same way. Lia’s driving very slowly, too. We’re all still in shock from our close call.

Back at the hotel, we shower in our respective rooms. Lia and I have to sit on the floor and let the water wash over us. Eventually, though, we get up and clean ourselves like normal.

We missed lunch, so we head down to the restaurant for an early supper. It’s not crowded at this hour, so we get a table with a good view. As hungry as we are, it’s hard to think about food after what happened.

We end up ordering a New York-style pizza, and one bite is all it takes for my appetite to come roaring back. I devour three slices in short order, almost making myself sick in the process. The others stare at me, surprised, but only Yuna can’t eat more than one piece. Lia and Yeji split the difference.

Afterward, I rub my face while we wait for our bill. I took Tylenol when we got back, but I’ve still got a headache. It’s especially sore under my right eye. Yuna sees what I’m doing and looks away quickly. I’m kind of annoyed by it.

“Stop worrying so much.”

A wave of panic washes over her face, but she manages to compose herself. I look at the other two. Lia seems sympathetic, but to me, not Yuna. Yeji just looks sad.

A minute later our server returns, carrying a bottle of wine, which is odd since we didn’t order one and aren’t old enough to do so in the states even if we wanted to.

“Here’s your check,” she says, “and this is compliments of the gentlemen down the way.”

She points at a far table with several men who are too old for us, but not old enough to know it. For a second I think it’s those assholes from today, but I know that’s utterly impossible. They can see our cold reaction from where they’re sitting, so they don’t press the point. Good for them. Smart. We wait until after they’ve gone before paying and leaving ourselves. But Yuna’s got the shakes again.

I bring the bottle upstairs with us. No sense in missing an opportunity, especially since the server forgot to card us. We pass it around in Lia and I’s room until it’s empty. I like the taste, but not the strange heat that it creates under my skin, like a fever. But it does make my pain go away, and it works to settle us all down, even poor Yuna.

Thus, with nothing to do until our flight home tomorrow morning, I make a suggestion.

“Do you want to watch a movie?”

***

The hotel offers a selection of pay-per-view movies, including some adult films. We’d discovered this when we had arrived, but were too bashful to order one until now. But we’re drunk, so why not?

Most of them look stupid, but we end up choosing one with a couple of female leads that we find attractive. The plot is dumb, the acting terrible, but at least those two ladies are fun to watch.

The story, such as it is, is about a high school student (played by a woman years out of high school) who seduces her female teacher (played by a woman not much older than her counterpart). It’s stupid and fun, but they just had to ruin it by including some male characters. The teacher is married, and when her husband finds out about the affair he tries to convince the student to end it. The girl, jealous, cheats on her teacher with the husband, and somehow this leads to a gangbang at a bar, at which point we absolutely had to stop the movie.

Yuna is shaking again, in spite of the dulling effects of alcohol.

“That’s what those guys wanted to do to us, right?”

We slowly nod. She is thoroughly disgusted and horrified. As are we. Well, disgusted, not horrified. The three of us are kind of past feeling horror at this point.

Yuna gets up and goes to the door of her room. She turns and looks at Yeji expectantly.

“Are you coming?”

Yeji shakes her head. “No, I’m going to sleep over here tonight.”

Yuna nods and closes the door behind her. We distinctly hear her lock it.

After some time, we can’t avoid it any longer, no matter how much we dread the lights going out. But if we leave any on, we won’t be able to sleep.

The three of us gather in one bed, naked under the covers. Lia and Yeji both kiss the bruise on my face, and I kiss them on the lips. We say goodnight, Lia shuts off the last lamp, and we are plunged into darkness.

I can still see perfectly well the faces of those men we killed.

***

One of them, the one closest to me, gets angry and tries to grab the parasol. I slam the end of it as hard as I can into his face. The tip pokes him in the eye, and then he falls down with his nose broken.

The man with the bottle yells something and swings it at me, but I easily dodge. Lia buries her knife into his middle, and he screams. The man whose nose I broke is now getting up, and there’s a third one who must have hung back to look at our jeep. I think wildly that he’s dressed like one of the Village People, and he has a hatchet of all things. He sprints at us like a maniac, so I do the only thing I can in the time I have left.

The parasol has a spike at the bottom. It’s what keeps it standing when you stick it in the ground. I jam it into Broken Nose’s chest and he dies, just not right away. He has enough strength left to struggle with me, and I get hit in the face with the body of the parasol and go down. He’s almost on top of me when he passes out. Meanwhile Lia has stabbed the other one in his neck to finish him off faster.

The Village Person throws his hatchet at her, but it falls short. I struggle to my feet and pick it up, and he finally realizes he might be making a mistake. He turns around, his headdress sliding off his shoulders, and Lia puts her knife to use for the last time. It gets stuck in his back, between ribs, and I finish him off with his own weapon.

We hear the shack’s door fly open, and out comes Yeji, running towards the tree line. I look and just spot someone disappearing through the eaves. Lia and I run after her, and we catch up in time to save her from her prey. Her knife is stuck in his leg, and he’s almost got his hands on her throat when I chop the back of his skull.

“Thank you,” she sputters, and while Lia helps her up I head to our erstwhile neighbors’ shack. I know I counted five of them. This last one must be the perv with the binoculars.

He’s nowhere to be found at first, but there’s no other path on this side so he must have run straight through the woods proper. I see a trail of smashed twigs and branches, and it doesn’t take long to find him. He begs me to let him go, but it’s too late now. I’m not taking any chances.

***

The next morning we check the news before we head to the airport. The bodies have all been found, but there are no suspects. CCTV coverage in that part of Oahu is a joke, and Lia rented our stuff under a false identity. She wasn’t old enough to rent a car if we had played it straight.

We make our flight and are never suspected of a thing. How Yuna managed to hold it together, I’ll never know. We even make it back to Incheon a little early. Chaeryeong is waiting for us. Her illness started to clear up almost as soon as we had left. She asks us how our trip went, and we look at each other.

After a moment of silence, I say, “Honestly, it was weird. You didn’t miss a thing.”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally there wasn't going to be a horror element, but I just couldn't help myself.
> 
> *I wrote this a year ago, when I was visiting my mom (before the 'rona ruined all). When I had finished it, I sent her the link, and some time later she had this look on her face. I thought something was wrong, that she was angry or upset about something. But then she said, "It was so good! That surprise twist!"  
> So I thought I'd share that with y'all...


End file.
